Ayman
Ghraieb

Update, 12 November 2026: Ayman Ghraieb, also known as Ayman Bani Owda, has been held by Israel without charge or trial since 17 November 2025. On 24 September 2026 a military court upheld a third administrative detention order, reduced to three months, and Amnesty International reported on 21 October 2026 that he remained in Gilboa Prison.

Background and Work

Ayman Ghraieb, whom Amnesty International names Ayman Bani Owda, is a human rights defender, social worker and grassroots activist from Tammoun in the Tubas Governorate of the northern occupied West Bank. He is in his early forties and a father of four. According to Amnesty International, he has documented violations in the Jordan Valley since 2007, where Bedouin and herding communities face the risk of forcible transfer because of army and settler violence and restrictions on grazing land. He co-founded the Ikhilia Women Cooperative, a women-led association that supports agricultural workers and communities in the Jordan Valley, and chaired its board until his arrest.

Front Line Defenders says he supports farmers whose land is targeted for seizure, coordinates local and international solidarity campaigns, and publishes photographs and videos of violations on social media. The Committee to Protect Journalists lists him as a freelance journalist who posts his documentation on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. Front Line Defenders reports that he had faced harassment, threats and arrest by the Israeli authorities and smear campaigns by settlers and right-wing organisations before his detention. +972 Magazine reported that less than a month before his arrest he had been held for several hours together with another journalist.

The Arrest

On 17 November 2025 he arrived at Fasayil, in the central Jordan Valley, to document the situation of a shepherd community. Two settlers blocked his way and called the army. A civilian security coordinator of a nearby settlement held him before handing him to the police. For two days the police and the army refused to confirm that he was in custody. After pressure by his lawyer, Riham Nasra, whose work is funded by the Human Rights Defenders Fund, and the threat of a habeas corpus petition, the army disclosed on 20 November that he was held at the Samra military base. Front Line Defenders described this period as an enforced disappearance.

Detention Conditions and Health

Amnesty International reported that at Samra he was kept outdoors, handcuffed and physically assaulted. His wife, Walaa Bani Odeh, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that he was beaten during the arrest and suffered two broken ribs, and that he was still affected by the injuries in August 2026; the Committee could not verify this independently. He was transferred to Megiddo Prison and later to Gilboa Prison in northern Israel. Amnesty International notes that holding him outside the occupied territory breaches the Fourth Geneva Convention and that, like other Palestinian detainees, he is denied family visits. His lawyer visits about once a month.

Walaa told Amnesty International that on 27 November 2025, ten days after the arrest, soldiers occupied the family home for two days during a raid on Tammoun, forced the family out and left the house vandalised.

Legal Proceedings

Six days after his arrest he was interrogated on vague allegations of incitement against the State of Israel. On 25 November 2025 the Salem Military Court, at an online hearing that neither his family nor his lawyer could attend, extended his detention by six days to allow an administrative order to be issued. On 1 December 2025 the military commander ordered six months of administrative detention, on the grounds that he endangered the safety of the region. A military court confirmed the order in closed proceedings in mid-December 2025 without disclosing the evidence to his lawyer. According to his wife, the detention was renewed on 16 May 2026. On 15 September 2026 the commander issued a third order for four months, and on 24 September 2026 a military court upheld it but reduced it to three months. He has never been charged, and the evidence remains in a secret file.

International Response

Front Line Defenders published his case on 18 December 2025. Amnesty International issued an urgent action on 13 March 2026 and a further urgent action on 21 October 2026, calling for his immediate and unconditional release as a person detained solely for his human rights work. The Committee to Protect Journalists documents his case as that of an imprisoned journalist.